Sean Payton admits ‘mistake’ in criticizing Jets, Nathaniel Hackett: ‘I needed a little bit more restraint’
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton met with the media Friday and apologized about critical comments he made this week about the New York Jets and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, adding he should have shown “more restraint.”
Addressing the media for the first time since his interview with USA Today was published, Payton said he felt regretful almost immediately after he called out the Jets for the “pomp and circumstance” of their offseason and Hackett for the “worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton addresses the media during OTAs. (Getty Images )
“It was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake, obviously,” Payton told reporters Friday.
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“I needed a little bit more filter. There’s a pound of flesh for these guys and, as a coach, you stick up for them and, after a while, we’re passed that season last year. And I said what I said, and obviously I needed a little bit more restraint. And I regret that.”
Payton unloaded on Hackett, who was fired after he compiled a 4-11 record in Denver in what was his first NFL head coaching job. Payton also dragged the Jets along the way.
“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton told the outlet. “And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.
Head coach Nathaniel Hackett of the Denver Broncos against the New York Jets at Empower Field At Mile High Oct. 23, 2022 in Denver, Colo. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
“We’re not doing any of that. The Jets did that this year. You watch.”
Payton also seemingly placed the blame on Hackett and others when addressing Russell Wilson’s dismal year last season.
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“There’s so much dirt around that. There’s 20 dirty hands for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms, the offense. I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it.
“It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.”
The Jets, specifically head coach Robert Saleh, seemed unmoved by the criticism.
Head coach Robert Saleh of the New York Jets talks to reporters after training camp at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center July 26, 2023, in Florham Park, N.J. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
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“Well, I’m not going to acknowledge Sean on that. You know, he’s been in the league a while. He can say whatever the hell he wants,” Saleh told reporters Thursday.
“But as far as what we have going on here, I kind of live by the saying, ‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping.’ So, hate away. Obviously, we’re doing something right if you’ve got to talk about us when we don’t play you until Week 4.”
Payton blamed the mishap on wearing his analyst’s hat, “not my coaching hat.”
“Two lattes in the morning, [the reporter is the] first one I see, and 40 minutes later I’m regretting it,” Payton said. “So, it is what it is.”
